The only really nice thing I have is the crystal glasses from my grandmother. I only use them on special occasions because they're so fragile... And then the usual white Ikea china and Ikea drinks glasses (these are specially for alcohol - it doesn't matter if they break). I hardly ever set the table, I just grab a plate and eat

__________________ten days of perfect tunesthe colorsredandbluewe had a promise madewe were in love

My grandmother has given me a tea set from Rosenthal called Maria Sommer.

I just saw a magazine article that had pictures of White Full Lace, and I remembered your pattern ... no wonder I think I like the Half better--I imagine you do too

I've been thinking about getting some creamware to go with fancy antique damask napkins ... I have some Wedgwood Strawberry and Vine (now discontinued) ... thinking about getting some plates in Nantucket.

__________________There's a need for more individuality today, and my job is to cater to women, not dictate to them. --Alber Elbaz

Recent purchases ... patterns are Haviland Ranson and Homer Laughlin English Garden. The monogram on the napkins is George II of Sachsen-Meiningen. The Haviland is meant to go with the napkins ... it was produced from 1893-1931, so it was in production in 1907 when the napkins were made

This is the very first thing I ever bought for myself Still have some pieces of it. The glazing is terrible even though it wasn't cheap ... the dessert plates are heart shaped It's kind of a tea set or something , no bowls or platters, so I bought the Strawberry and Vine I have to mix with it.

Haldon Group Blue Stripe

__________________There's a need for more individuality today, and my job is to cater to women, not dictate to them. --Alber Elbaz

My mom is obsessed with portmeirion. She got her first portmeirion when my parents were married, which was when it could only be found in England now it's available in the states, but slowly she's built up quite the collection. Pretty much all of our dishes, mugs, bowls, just everything is from the portmeirion botanic garden collection. And I think it would be impossible to get her to change table settings. We use these all the time because my mom's theory is "why let the pretty china sit in a cabinet? It deserves to see the light of day and get some use out of it." And I totally agree with her philosophy and I have a feeling that someday when I have my own house it'll be a portmeirion home as well.
portmeirion.co.uk

__________________http://miss-rumphius.tumblr.com/ "It is ever so much easier to be good if your clothes are fashionable." Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

I am trying to solve the puzzle that is dinnerware/flatware/stemware, etc. It's kind of like building a good capsule wardrobe. I find that we are entertaining much more lately (my current apartment is the first I've lived in that's large enough to actually have dinner parties) and I am always missing/needing things, so I want to start getting that sorted. The challenge is that I have a lot of vintage pieces that I love and want to keep using, but finding pieces to match is not that easy!

I am currently looking for everyday tea-/coffemugs to go with a set of not-quite-white-not-quite-cream vintage fayance breakfast set, dessert plates to go with my mismatched collection of white and gold teacups, and all new wine glasses - feeling a little overwhelmed!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fashionista-ta

Btw, we have a thread for this ... maybe 'table' is in the title?? I love to mix and match vintage things, including for every day.

My favorite mugs are from Emma Bridgewater ... you might take a look at those. Dessert plates ... something from Royal Copenhagen? For wine glasses, I know connoisseurs say you should use very specific glasses, and I do have a couple different stemless styles from Riedel (which I use for picnics!). But I find that other glasses work fine. I have some vintage water glasses that I also use for wine. The very first ones I bought were from TJ Maxx, which turned out to be seconds for sure I felt bad for the guy who snapped off a stem at the first party I ever had--he thought it was his fault, but I'm sure it wasn't. I still have a few survivors--4 of the original 8 I bought, I think. That's the nice thing about vintage ... you are getting the survivors. Let me see if I can find that thread ...

First of all, I love all your different dishes Ta-ta! So much pretty... I suspect if lack of space wasn't such an issue for me I'd have a lot more than I do, but I've had to keep things fairly simple.

I have only one set of plates and bowls that I use for everything: breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's a vintage set that I've collected, I started out with three bowls that my grandmother gave me that had been given to her by her aunt. My grandmother says she remembers eating strawberries with cream from these dishes when she was a child. I think the line was in production between the 30's and the 60's, it's by a well known Norwegian company called Egersund. This is what the bowls from the set look like:

epla.no

I use these for soups, salads, cereal, berries, sometimes even ice cream. The plates are meant as dinner plates, but they are small enough to work as breakfast plates too. I also have a serving plate and two different serving bowls from the same series, and am looking for some bigger bowls for serving salad and for as fruit bowls.
I've always heard that fayance is so fragile, but I've had my dishes for nearly ten years and use them daily (including dishwasher and microwave) and they don't show any more wear now than when I got them (when they were already 50+ years old).

Anyway, this is the set that I want tea-/coffemugs to go with. I had a look at Emma Bridgewater and there were so many cute ones, but the thing is that I personally don't drink tea, coffee or any other hot drinks, so the mugs will be used mainly by my boyfriend...I wonder if they may be slightly too feminine for his taste.

I've been looking at ceramics from different Scandinavian companies, such as Tine K, Bloomingville, House Doctor because I like a lot of the colors and prints, but she shape and size is always off for me (also, the thing right now seems to be mugs without a handle - seems very impractical).
For a while I was considering Swedish Grace by Rörstrand, as I really love the pattern and the shape, but I couldn't get comfortable with any of the colours. The white is too white, and I can't see any of the pastels really working in my house. I would have loved them in a medium grey or a beige that wasn't too yellow...
So the search continues...

This is the flatware set that I have. The maker is Hardanger Bestikk, (again, well known in Norway ), the line is called Nina:

hardangerbestikk.no

I really like it, although sometimes I think that if I were to start again with something new I'd get something more simple and modern, and leave romance for the silver...
Which I don't have any of yet, but at some point I will be inheriting parts of my grandparents silver, so I am thinking of starting collecting some pieces. They have this set called Lilje:

theodorolsen.no

I love how simple and elegant it is.

As for glasses, my ancient dishwasher have ruined most of the glasses I had (they were cheap ones anyway), so for now I use some very basic water glasses from Ikea. I also have some cut crystal tumblers that I got in Prague many years ago - boyfriend uses them for whisky and I sometimes use them as water glasses for nicer dinners.

Like I mentioned, I need new wine glasses, and I always felt that I should get Riedel glasses. Years ago I used to work in a shop that sold them, and we took classes on wine and glasses, but at that time I wasn't all that interested. To be honest I'm not crazy about how they look, and I'm no wine conoisseur so I'm sure I'll be fine drinking my wine from regular wine glasses. I went browsing some shops today and kind of landed on these from Holmegaard (starting with white wine, since that's what I drink 99% of the time):

And finally there is my vintage teacup collection. I'll admit they're bordering on garish, but I can't help it, I love them in all their princess-y glory! These are two of the types I have (but without the dessert plates), there are some others as well (some a bit more masculine too ) but all of them are white and gold.

ebay.com

^ I remember actually spotting this one in the first Pirates of the Carribbean-movie!

So these are the type of cups I am looking for dessert-/cake plates for. I think it's hard to find anything modern that would fit, but Rosenthal may have something, or perhaps something like this. I know I want plain white, any more gold would be too over the top for me.
I would love to find something by the weekend after next, since my birthday is coming up and it would be so nice to serve cake from matching cake plates...

Thank you I had a lot of what I have now when I lived in a 599-sq ft apartment--but it had a big kitchen with lots of storage

I think maybe the Haviland Ranson that I have would go with your cups? It had many imitators, so there's a great deal of it around. It's European as I recall ...

I don't know whether Replacements ships to you or not ... do you have a service like that where you are? When you collected your pattern, did you just do that in shops? eBay might be an option. Your pattern is really sweet ... it reminds me a bit of a pattern I considered but didn't buy that had shaded roses--I think it may have been Dior?? It's really nice to have the family connection. I was offered some of my grandmother's china (maybe--not sure whether I would have had to get married to take advantage of it ), but it wasn't to my taste and my sister has it. The silver pattern my grandmother bought for herself was similar to mine--it is also floral repousse. Buttercup, I think.

One thing to remember about Riedel is that it will make good wine better ... and also bad wine worse I enjoy really nice wine, but I personally don't find it worth paying for. I buy a very reasonably priced wine that I enjoy for everyday use.

__________________There's a need for more individuality today, and my job is to cater to women, not dictate to them. --Alber Elbaz

You're absolutely right about the Haviland Ranson, I think I missed that picture when I was scrolling down. They are exactly like what I have in mind, so I will have a look around and see what I can find!

We don't have anything like the Replacements site here, so I collected all of mine from antique shops, Salvation Army shops, flea markets and a bit online from private auctions. It's very rare that I've come across this pattern so I've bought pretty much everything I've found. Nicer vintage chinas are easier to come by it seems, probably since they would have been used only for special occasions and thus not been as worn out or easily broken, so there is more left of it.

I'm the same with wine. I can appreciate nice wine, but I never buy very expensive ones for myself, and I'm not very experimental so I tend to stick with what I know I like. I figure if they taste good in the glasses that I have now they probably won't taste worse in any other wine glass. But perhaps I should buy only one to start with, just in case I'm completely wrong!

I've also been wanting to start collecting a nicer set of china, so I've been looking around a bit to see if I can find something I like. I don't think I want to go for vintage this time, as I'll be wishing for pieces for Christmas and birthdays so it should be more easily available. I quite like White Pearl by Villeroy & Boch, but I'm not sure if it's too plain, and also a little too similar in style to the one I've got already...